Improvement in corn-planters



2 Sheets-Shet 1.

H. JONES. Corn-Planters;

Patented N v. 6, i877;

ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' HnnR-Y'JoNEson'oo'snocron,oHio.

lMPROVEMENT IN lCQRN-PLANTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 196,908, dated November6, 1877 application filed L .July 16,1877. b t

To (in whom it may concern: I Be it known that I, .HENRY J ONES, ofCoshocton, in the county of Goshocton and State of Ohio, have invented anew and useful Improvement inCorn-Planters and I do here, by declarethat the following is a full and ex-.

efl'ective means for operating the seed-dropping plates, and forstopping the-operation of the same when the furrow-openers are raisedfrom the ground, devices for changing the speed of the drop andregulating thedistance between the hills to be planted, and a simple:contrivancefor. regulating the draft of the planter, all forming a veryconvenient and effective machine; and my invention therein consists,first, in the devices for operating the seed-plate through connectionwith the wheels v I being dropped into the seed-passages.

of the planter; second, in the peculiar means for stoppingthe dropwhenthe drills or fur-- row-openers are raised from the ground; third,inrthe means for regulating the draft; and, further 'in ,the variouscombinations of the operative parts, allas more fully hereinafterexplained. p H V In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view,showing the seed-dropping mechanism as operated by a cam and. lever;Fig. 2, aperspective view, with a crankshaft mounted in position to workthe slide-bar, and adapted to have its rate of revolution varied; Fig.3, a central longitudinalsection of Fig. 2, and Fig. daviewpfone of theseed-dropping plates and operating devices with the seed-box removed. qV 3 ,Like letters. denote corresponding parts. in eachfigure. A is theframe of themachine, upon the longitudinal beams a of which is mountedthe axle B, carrying on its ends the supporting and covering wheels. Across-beam, a, -at, the rear supports the scraping-plates ,a?,.whichscrape the .rim of the wheels, and a much wider beam, 1), .is securedacross the front ends of the longitudinal beams a, and carries theseed-boxes and dropping-plates, and a part of near the ends thereof.These furrow-openers have the usual seed-passage leading through themand the beam 1). Upon the beam 11 are ',mounted two circular plates,- 0,each having. a

single hole near its periphery, which holes rest over the .seedpassages. plates are set two other circular metallic plates,

D D, which are journaled andadapted to re-' volve on studs.0*,projecting up through the plates 0. I

.. Over the plates D D are set-the seed-boxes E E, which are madepreferably of metal, in

the form shown in. the drawing. These boxes are supported above andalmost in contact with the plates D D by brackets 07, and have one sideflattened, as shown at d to form receptacles outside of theseed-boxes,and di-.

rectly, over the, seed-passages in which the grains of corn pass, andmay be seen before The plates D D have a number of holes 13,

.formed in them,,w hich revolve in.;1ine withthe holes, in the. plates.0, and convey the grains of corn from the seed-boxes into thereceptacles d. vOn the periphery of these plates are formedratchet-teeth e through which theyare operated.

is the-seed-slide, mounted in straps onthe beam b, and. not extendingthe entire dis- 'tance-between, the seedboxes. xTo the sides of theseed-slide, near each end, are secured two spring-arms, G G, extendingoutwardly, and pressing against the edgesof the plates D D, where theyproject beyondthe sides of the seed-boxes. 1 1 Y y ThearmsG have a hook,eflbenton their outer-ends, to draw against the teeth ofthe ratchets. e,while the ends of the arms G (without hooks) are bent slightly. inward,as shown,and push against the teeth of the ratehets onthe opposite sidesof the plates, thus imparting, when. the seed-slide is reciprocated, apositive rotation in thesame direc tion toboth of the plates D D. Theplates will thus both drop the corn atthe same time, and by theoperation of the arms G G there will be a positive stop (for an instantonly) o fv Upon these the plates justas the seed-passage is reached, a

insuring greater certainty inthe dropping of the grains.

I have designed to use in my machine two devices for giving areciprocating motion to the seed-slide, which are adapted to be appliedalternately-one imparting an unchangeable movement to such slide toplant the hills'a certain distance apart, and the other a motion whichcan be varied-in its speed, so that the space between the hills may beregulated as desired. The former I shall first describe.

Upon one side of the machine, near the axle, is mounted a cam-cylinder,H, having the camgroove f. The axis of this cylinder is journaled inboxes secured to the longitudinal beams a, and one end of the axis isextended beyond the outer beam a, and has mounted thereon a cog-pinion,g. This pinion meshes with an annular toothed rack, g, secured to theinner side of a wheel, I, and as the planter is moved the cam-cylinderis revolved by the turning of this wheel. H is a lever, which is pivotednear the beam 1) on a block, h. The long arm of this lever projectstoward the rear of the machine, and is bent to accommodate itself to theposition of the cam-cylinder. A friction-roller hangs from the underside at the end of this arm of the lever,-and enters the cam-groove f.The short arm of the lever is slotted, as shown at h, and a stud, h onthe seed-slide F projects through this slot. It will thus be seen thatthe seed-slide will be reciprocated, and the dropping plates operated,through the cam H and lever H, and the hills of corn planted at regularintervals.

On the other side of the machine from which the cam-cylinder and itslever are placed is mounted a shaft, K, running lengthwise of the frameA, and journaled at one end in astandard, i, and at the other in abox,13, secured to one of the longitudinal beams a, close to the axle B.This shaft extends forward beyond the standard 4 to a point over theseed-slide, and has a crank wheel or arm, 1:, secured on its end, fromwhich apitman, It, runs to, and is connected with, the said seed-slide.Inside of the box 6', and between it and the standard 1', is sleeved onthe shaft K a cog-pinion, Z, which is secured to the said shaft by asetscrew, 1.

I is a covering-wheel, having a broad rim similar to the wheel I. On theinner face of this wheel near the hub are set two or more circular rowsof cog-teeth, m, of the proper size to mesh with the pinion l. Thepinion Z may be adjusted on its shaft to engage with any one of theserows of cogs, and by these means the operation of the seed-droppingmechanism can be varied, and the distance between the hills to beplanted changed, as desired.

When the cam attachment is used to run the drop, Fig. 1, I mount on theopposite end of the axle from the wheel I a wheel, I, which. is of plainconstruction, with a broad rim, and does not interfere with the pinionl. The shaft is may be entirely removed from the machine,

or the pitman k simply disengaged from the seed-slide.

When the crank-shaft is employed to operate the seed-slide, Fig. 2, thewheel I is mounted on the end of the axle in place of the wheel I andthe wheel I set on the other end of the axle instead of the wheel I.

In the manufacture of this machine I have designed to Have the threewheels and the other attachments described furnished, so they can beapplied by the farmer when he desires to use them, which can be easilydone by the use of a wrench.

L is the tongue to the corn-planter, which passes over a part of theframe A, and is rigidly secured at its inner end to the center of theaxle B, the axle being adapted to rock on the frame A, and the tongue tomove with it. Braces m also connect the tongue with the axle. The.drivers seat L is mounted on the tongue L in the position shown 'in thedraw- 1n g. Y

M is a bell-crank lever, pivoted in a slot in the tongue, and having onepart extended upwardly to form a hand-lever, M, situated so as to bemoved either backward or forward by the driver in his seat. The otherarm of the lever projects forward, and has pivoted to it a link, m*,which passes down through the slot in the tongue, and is joined to theunder side a of the beam 1). By means of the lever M M and theconnecting-link, the frame A can be lifted from the ground when themachine is turning at the endof a row or being moved from field tofield, and the furrow-openers may be forced into the ground to anydesired extent when the machine is in operation. A dropcatch, n, workedby arod and handle, n, holds the lever M when thrown back, and 'sup-'ports the frame A in an elevated position. To stop the operation of thedropping-plates during the time that the furrow-openers are raised fromthe groimd, I journal a rock-shaft, N, in hangers on the under side ofthe beam b. This rook-shaft has an arm, 0, at each end, which armsproject up through slots in the beam b,

inside of the outer spring-arms G G. The

rock-shaft is also provided with an arm, '0, at its center, directlyunder the tongue. When the frameAis raised the tongue presses againstthe arm 0, and turns the rock-shaft a short distance, which moves thearms 0 outwardly, and disengages the two outer spring-arms from theirratchets.

In planting with machines as heretofore constructed, great trouble hasbeen experienced a from uneven draft. To remedy this, and provide at thesame time a simple device for changing the depth of planting, twoclevises, O O, are secured to the front of the beam 12, some distanceeach side of the center. To these clevises are attached the ends of achain, P, whose center is provided with aring, which is hung on a hook,17, secured to the under side of the tongue. from the ring, and isattached to the whifiletrees. a

A short chain, 1), extends Having thus fully described my corn-planterand explained some of its advantages, what I claim as my invention,and-desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a corn-planter, the slide 13, carryingthe spring-arms G G, andprovided with pin h for attachment of crank and gear mechanism, and withpin W, for connecting the lever and cam mechanism, substantially as andfor the purposes set forth.

2. In a corn-planter, the rock-shaft N, having an arm, 0, adapted to bemoved by the tongue of the planter when the main frame is raised fromthe ground, substantially as and, for the'purposes set forth;

3. The combination, with the seed-slide F 11th day of June, 1877.

HENRY JONES.

Witnesses: I

ALEX. MOOLURE, J 01m EWING.

